The Nugg Doctor follows the Denver Nuggets exclusively and sometimes provides glimpses back into some classic NBA and ABA historical moments. He is constantly compiling knowledge to his NBA IQ. He is always looking for more ways to amaze his fans with his eclectic knowledge. Don't see your favorite pro? No sweat, just request that the Nugg Doctor writes up an article on them so they aren't forgotten! Be sure to check the archives for legends your memory might need some refreshing on.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

A Bull-ogna Way to Lose

(Boulder-CO) I was heartbroken when Luol Deng tipped the ball away from Carmelo Anthony and perfectly set up Tyrus Thomas for a game-winning offensive tip-in with only two tenths of a second to play. It just shouldn’t have happened this way, but yet it did. Tonight’s, 109-108, loss hurts more than usual because the Nuggets battled back from a dreadful second quarter, showed heart in critical moments, and did everything they could after falling victim to a couple of really bad breaks at their own fault down the stretch. I repeat: It just shouldn’t have happened this way, but yet it did. The Chicago Bulls finished tonight with 25 second chance points and none were bigger than the last pair.

You can point to so many little things that could have swayed the outcome of this game, but what I think cost the Nuggets this game was all the unnecessary turnovers. Poorly timed passes, passes that should have never been thrown, and breaking some of the cardinal rules of basketball fundamentals were just some of the causes of turnovers that the Nuggets could have flat out avoided. For instance, in the fourth quarter there was a situation where Nene grabbed a rebound and was falling to the floor. Instead of calling timeout or throwing the ball towards mid-court, Nene threw the ball towards his own goal and Luol Deng scooped it up for an easy deuce. Basketball 101 states that you never save the ball underneath your own basket and you never pass backwards towards your own goal. In this case even falling to the floor and getting called for traveling would have been better than giving Deng the gift.

Furthermore, everyone that played, except for J.R. Smith who only played eleven minutes, turned the ball over at least once. Nene was guilty for seven slip-ups, AI for five, Camby and Blake each had three, and Carmelo had a pair. In the end the Nuggets turned the ball over 23 times resulting in 26 Chicago points. Thirteen of those miscues came in the first half, and it’s a shame too, because so many of them weren’t because of good defense by the Bulls.

Offensively, the Nuggets were led by Allen Iverson’s game-high 31 points. Carmelo added 28 points, but was nowhere to be found on the boards finishing with only two rebounds. Nene scored 18 points, blocked four shots, and grabbed 12 rebounds in what was the only double-double performance for the Nuggets. Marcus Camby left in the third quarter with back spasms and did not return. Hopefully he will be able to return tomorrow night because the Nuggets are going to need him to guard the long and mobile Chris Bosh of the Raptors. I’ll keep my eye on it and let you know what I hear.

Other then the cold, hard facts that I have just so painstakingly included in this recap I just don’t have much else to say other than the bad guys win sometimes. Not much else for a Nuggs fan to do.

At least tomorrow night presents an opportunity to erase this one from Denver’s memory. I still have faith, do you?

I will take a hard-fought 1 point loss after a 5 game winning streak over a 25-point defeat on the road like they had been doing earlier in the year. They played hard and were effective throughout the game. They severely missed Camby's presence on defense those last few minutes. Camby has been resilient for most of the year, he was bound for some missed time based on what he has done in the past.